Waste Industry’s Annual Conference Opens with Launch of Health, Safety and Welfare Pledge

Health and safety was high on the agenda at the opening of the CIWM (UK) Conference in partnership with ESA 2013 recently, when CIWM President John Skidmore launched a voluntary Health, Safety and Welfare Pledge for the waste and resource management sector.

Designed to help raise awareness and promote a stronger focus on health, safety and welfare issues in the run-up to the European Week for Safety and Health at Work 2013 in October, the pledge asks organisations to go beyond the basic legal requirements and commit to doing a bit more to make their workplaces healthier and safer. It already has the support of key industry bodies, including the Environmental Services Association (ESA), Welsh Local Government Association, and the WISH (Waste Industry Safety & Health) Forum. It is open to all companies and organisations involved in waste and resource management, including operators, local authorities, social enterprises, service and product suppliers and buyers, and regulators.

“The law requires organisations with more than five employees to have health and safety management policies but just having a policy is not enough,” says John Skidmore, for whom health and safety has been a priority during his presidential term. “We want to encourage waste and recycling industry to really focus on their internal practices and systems to increase employee health and wellbeing, whilst cementing a long-term drive towards eliminating work-related incidents. It should be a core business imperative; after all, good health and safety practices save lives and save money.”

The waste and resource industry has a poor health and safety record compared to other sectors, with 16 fatalities in the UK during 2012/13. In September of 2012, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) went as far as to issue a warning that efforts to improve worker safety within the industry must improve, following nine deaths over a 12 week period. Chair of the HSE Judith Hackett, speaking at a waste industry health and safety conference earlier this year, noted that even the sector’s better performers are poor when compared to other industries and said that a rational system of sharing best practice is far and away the best method of eliminating persistent health and safety problems.

The CIWM Health, Safety & Welfare Pledge is designed to build on and complement other key industry initiatives, including the Accident Reduction Charter introduced by the Environmental Services Association and HSE and the work of the WISH Forums and WISH Northern Ireland which aim to ‘promote, publicise, facilitate and bring about implementation of the actions that can reduce workplace accident and occupational ill health incidence rates.’

CIWM chief executive Steve Lee said: “This pledge asks signatories to make at least one improvement to their health and safety systems and we hope that organisations will encourage their employees to participate and contribute ideas that will not only reduce the risk of injury, but will also save money and protect against personal liability. By promoting the pledge, signposting useful guidance, and sharing good practice from signatories, CIWM is looking to provide a focal point for these efforts in the build-up to European Week for Safety and Health at Work to demonstrate the industry’s commitment to improving its record.”

Supporting the pledge, ESA Director General Barry Dennis said: “ESA has for many years been absolutely determined that health and safety is the first priority for its Member companies. Driven by our Accident Reduction Charter and Strategy, ESA Members have reduced accidents by almost 70% since 2004. ESA recognises that partnership working is key to replicating these results across the sector as a whole, and we are, therefore, delighted that CIWM is adding its considerable influence to this important issue.”

Chris Jones, chair of the GB WISH Forum, added: “Through the new health and safety strategy for the waste industry launched earlier this year, our aim is to cut incident rates by 10% year-on-year and reduce the number of fatalities to zero. This pledge is welcome in that it supports that aim and will help to maintain a strong focus on improving the industry’s record and sharing knowledge and good practice.”